I've been lurking in these boards for over 7 months. I have decided to get limb lengthening done and right now am into the procedure for about 40 days. Here's Part 1, I'll finish and post the rest of my experiences in a week or so.

A bit about myself...I am from Canada, a 25 year old asian male that is 5' 5 1/2" tall living in Toronto. I started thinking about about my height when I opened this hot chick in computer store. She was about to buy Windows XP Pro for $300 and I asked her WTF was she doing. I told her that you could buy it for 1/4 of the price. Go to www.cdtoys.com if you guys want to learn something. The conversation was going well but she told me that I was a bit too short for her tastes. I read somewhere a long time ago a kid broke his legs by accident and turned the screws on the fixator a few extra times each week in attempt to grow taller. I'm sure he only gained 1 or 2 mm at most since he was not following a structured lengthening plan. This got me curious if there were people breaking their legs on purpose and then following a structured plan to grow taller. I found the www.supportshort.org website and learned quite a bit.

I decided to get either a full internal fixator or the LON method on the tibia due to time contraints...I left on May and needed to go back to school in September. Also was the fact that bones will heal straight with virtually no risk of bowing than using an external fixator. The negatives of course was the reaming of the bone marrow canal and the fact that you have to remove the nail later on...though Canada will remove the nail for free (we have a national health plan) once I get back here since it's a safety issue not cosmetic.

My budget was $15,000US. I emailed practically all the doctors from around the world..including South America, Asia, Russia, and Iran. Most of the doctors replied with intelligent responses. I ended up chosing Tehran, Iran because the doctor appeared knowledgable and had experience for several years, the fact that the LON method was being used, and the low price, just over $8000US which includes the surgery, hospital stay, 3 months medicine, food, 4 star hotel, hell everything. Keep in mind this is a ****load of money for ordinary iranians as the average guy makes about $100US per month.

If your are male and reasonably attractive you will find no problems meeting hot persian chicks (or nurses hehehe) there...they will be fascinated by you. I will talk more about this in greater detail later

About the religous issues in Iran. Yes girls have to wear a scarf on the head and shorts are not allowed. Well after my operation I walked on the street with shorts anyways since people could see that there was no way I can wear a pants with that frame on my leg! A girl probably should wear a long dress or chador if they want to go out. I treat it as a dress code nothing more. I read the message by Bree titled Limb Lengthening risks in Iran and I agree with some of stuff there but alot of it is pure bull****. I mean the part that male doctors cannot operate on women without getting mobbed simply is not true. People in Iran do have internet and you can see for yourself at www.llci.net that they have pictures of girls showing legs. And I see lots of chicks wearing jewellry, watches, makeup etc. If you act intelligently and not try to force feministic ideas on the people there you will be fine. I am not there to judge them, I am there to get taller. I was told Tehran was the largest and one of the most liberal of all the cities in Iran so the situation could be different in more remote areas.

Since I am Canadian, it was easy to obtain a visa and the doctor did most of the work. I am not sure how my american friends would fare since they are at war with so many different countries. I'm from Canada and we are neutral in these things...but I am getting worried that Mr. Bush starts attacking countries left and right with so little evidence. If he is going to invade for oil he might as well state it outright instead of hiding behind the excuse of WMDs. At least OPEC's monopoly is broken so we now have cheap gas. Anyways I don't want to get into this...

So I fly to Tehran and get there at 1AM and the doctor picks me up from the airport himself. I stay at his lady friend's place and we have a interesting persian breakfast. The next few days I go book a hotel for a few days and he shows me around Tehran for a bit. We start visiting some of his patients, and the hospital where the surgery takes place. We discuss the procedure and my expectations. I tell him I am looking for a moderate gain of 2.5 to 3 inches to the tibias for a final height of 5'8" to 5'8 1/2".

The subject of money comes up and I tell him I estimate it would take a week or so to set up a bank account and receive a wire from Canada. Since I am in a time contraint, he says not to worry about it and actually is willing to do the operation before receiving the money...that's a nice gesture of trust. I have noticed the doctor and the pretty nurses from the hospital give me special treatment since I am a foreigner. I'm not complaining After being satisified that everything looks in order we draft a contract and I decide to go ahead with the operation.